Shaq, Styx, and the Future of Domo: Key Takeaways from Domopalooza 2025

Salt Lake City, Utah - March 21, 2025

This year at Domo's annual summit, Domopalooza 2025, over 1,500 attendees from around the world heard from a variety of speakers, including Domo founder Josh James, Domo CTO and EVP of Product, Daren Thayne, and special guest Shaquille O’Neal.

As one of the highlights of the event's first day, Josh James interviewed O’Neal, who shared insights from his life experiences. One topic of discussion was the influence of O’Neal’s father, who served in the US military.

“My father was a military drill sergeant. He passed away about 15 years ago, and everything I do today I dedicate to him, his legacy, and his memory. It was all about discipline and respect,” said O’Neal.

He also recalled his father’s compassion for the homeless, sharing a lesson he learned after a poor basketball performance. When his father asked, “You couldn’t handle the pressure?” O’Neal admitted, “No, sir.” In response, his father took him to visit a homeless family he often helped and said, “Pressure is when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.”

“That comment really hit me,” O’Neal reflected. “So I try not to worry or complain, because things could definitely be worse.”

James emphasized O’Neal’s character, saying, “One of the things I admire about you is how you use your platform to help others.” He asked, “What makes you the way you are?”

“My parents gave me a lot of legendary quotes. My mother told me, ‘It costs you nothing to be nice.’ It made a lot of sense,” said O’Neal. “First, I always have to be nice to kids. I once saw a celebrity be rude to children, and I told myself, ‘If I ever reach that status, I don’t want to be like that.’ Second, if you’re nice, I have to be nice. And third—lastly—I don’t think I’m better than you… but I am better than you at basketball.”

The crowd laughed.

The humor continued as O’Neal gave James some product advice, “Shaq is interested in talking to our AI team about… ShaqGPT!” The crowd cheered. Meanwhile, before Shaq left the stage, a Domo engineer had created a "ShaqGPT" internal prototype that mimicked O’Neal's voice and demonstrated how fast Domo engineers can implement its AI technology on the spot.

On a more serious note, James asked O’Neal for advice on enjoying life.

“The best advice I can give is: don’t wait,” O’Neal said. “If you have a friend or loved one you haven’t talked to in a long time, send them a text. Say, ‘Hey, I miss you.’ When your loved ones are gone, they are gone forever.”

One of Utah's tech unicorns, Domo is a cloud-based SaaS company headquartered in American Fork, Utah. As one of Utah's most significant tech companies making advances in AI applications, Domo aims to “drive innovation and impact with tools to connect and prepare data from any source, expand data access for exploration, and build powerful data products to accelerate business-critical insights—with AI assistance at every step.”

The conference’s central theme revolved around agentic AI and its integration with Domo. James emphasized AI’s usefulness and its role in Domo’s Agent Catalyst program.

“Here are some agents that we and our customers are already using: customer support agents, sales assistant agents, customer health agents, resume screening agents, intelligent blog creation agents,” said James. “Domo was built for this moment.”

The audience erupted in excitement when James announced, “We are going to fund your first agent. Every customer here, your first agent that you want to build, our network of partners will help fund it.”

Thayne did a deep dive into Domo’s latest AI advancements. “In the last twelve months, Domo has released 31 new features to help you thrive in this AI-driven era. Whether you’re just starting or well on your way, Domo ensures you can use AI confidently, securely, and effectively.”

One of the announcements at Domopalooza 2025 is the release of Agent Catalyst, the latest addition to Domo's AI suite. Agent Catalyst enables organizations to create autonomous AI agents that analyze and complete business processes independently. This innovation streamlines complex workflows while maintaining security, governance, and human oversight.

"As businesses evolve with Domo, AI should grow alongside them," said Josh James. "Agent Catalyst transforms AI from an assistant into an autonomous problem-solver. Unlike traditional AI tools that require human input, these agents adapt dynamically, leveraging large language models to tackle complex business challenges."

The rise of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) presents both opportunities and challenges for businesses. Many struggle with managing vast amounts of data while maintaining accuracy and efficiency. Agent Catalyst addresses these hurdles by providing a powerful toolkit for developing AI agents that enhance decision-making with real-time, context-aware insights.

Agent Catalyst introduces a four-step framework for building AI agents:

1. Select an LLM – Choose the right large language model.
2. Provide Instructions – Define agent behaviors.
3. Connect to Knowledge Sources – Integrate relevant data.
4. Assign Tools – Equip agents with the right capabilities.

To support this framework, Domo has rolled out several key AI enhancements:

• FileSets – A tool for managing unstructured data, such as PDFs, images, and audio, using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) technology.
• Semantic Layer – Tools for defining data relationships, including a new Metrics framework launching later this year.
• AI Assistant & AI Agent Builders – Coming soon, these tools will simplify the creation and deployment of AI assistants and agents.
• DomoGPT – A secure, enterprise-grade LLM powering AI agents.

Domopalooza 2025 Day One wrapped up with an intimate Styx concert in the ballroom of the Grand America.

Learn more about Domo’s AI agents by visiting https://www.domo.com/agentcatalyst.